The invention relates to a process for making juice from grapes, fruit or like material to be pressed, which is fed forward in batches in a container from a charge opening to a discharge opening approximately by the longitudinal extent of the charge opening, whereby the material is pressed in the container region disposed between the charge opening and discharge opening by means of at least one press hose or like expanding body, whereby the material is repeatedly pressed in unmixed batches at time internals, and whereby the charge region of the container is separated for the feed-in operation of the material, and whereby the material is pre-compressed, preferably in an essentially void-free manner, into the charge region of the container.
The invention also relates to a juice press, especially a wine or fruit press, including a drum or like container having slots, holes or like flow openings in its longitudinal walls, and further including a feed plate or like feed element longitudinally movable inside the container, the container having at least one pomace or discharge opening disposed in front of the feed element in the direction of feed and at least one expandable press hose or like expanding body being provided inside the container between the feed element and the discharge opening.
From EP-A-0 341 098 A a wine press is already known which has a horizontally disposed drum with a perforated case. The material to be pressed is supplied to the drum by way of a central feed pipe terminating inside an end region of the drum. A helical feeding device is provided at the extreme inner periphery of the drum and advances the material batchwise by rotary motion to a discharge opening arranged at the opposite drum end. The drum is subdivided into several sections in the direction of feed, one central press diaphragm being assigned to each. The press diaphragms can be expanded separately from one another in such a way that the material is urged against the inner wall of the drum and juice is thus extracted. Since, as the drum rotates, the feeding device arranged at the inner periphery of the drum contacts the material only in its outer area, it is inavoidable that the cake of material is drawn apart and broken open. Between each pressing interval the material is in any case loosened and crumbled by a change in the direction of rotation of the drum and feeding device it contains, such leading, however, to an undesirably high sediment content in the juice.
From FR-PS 90 00 139, a juice press of the type mentioned at the outset is already known, which has a container which is approximately square in cross-section and is formed from bars. The container, whose longitudinal axis is disposed approximately horizontally, has on the top side of its casing a charge hopper disposed at an end face of the container in the region of a feed plate. The feed plate is longitudinally movable inside the container and is thus able to move the material, which is fed in via the charge hopper, to the opposite open end of the container, which serves as a discharge opening for the fruit or grape pomace.
Between the feed plate and the discharge opening there is provided on the upper inner wall of the container a pressing bellows, which is expandable in the direction of the container bottom. Using this multicellular pressing bellows, the material consisting of mash, fruit or grapes can be pressurized such that the fruit juice flows out via the permeable container bottom and drips into a juice collecting tray beneath.
Since the pressed-out juice flows out essentially only via the container bottom, this previously known press has only a limited pressing output. As a result of the movement of the material solely by means of the feed plate provided inside the container, there is the danger, moreover, that the individual fruit or pomace layers will be pushed together, which may result in an undesirably high sediment content in the juice.